Pune, Feb 20 (IANS) In a match between youth and experience, Uzbekistan’s Khumoyun Sultanov came from behind to stop the run of the Australian and former world No. 17, Bernard Tomic, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, to enter the singles quarterfinals of the Maha Open ATP Challenger 100 Men’s Tennis Championship here on Thursday.
Indian doubles pair, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth entered the semifinals in the doubles event and will clash with the pair of Indian Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Zimbabwean Courtney John Lock for a place in the finals in the event organised by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Department of Sports and Youth Services Govt of Maharashtra, at the Balewadi Sports Complex.
Top-seeded Billy Harris of Great Britain looked in great form, hammering 14 aces on his way to a 7-5, 6-3 win over qualifier Hiroki Moriya in 1 hour 38 minutes.
Fifth-seeded Ugo Blanchet stopped the winning run of Kyrian Jacquet winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in an all-French battle. Kyrian, who had a dream run winning two Challengers on the trot at Chennai and Delhi, could not sustain his run and looked tired as he went down in a 1 hour 48 minutes match.
Sixth-seeded Brandon Holt of the USA, the son of legendary Women’s tennis player and former world No.1 Tracy Austin, spent 1 hour and 18 minutes on the court to carve out a 6-4, 6-4 win against Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg of France.
In the best match of the day, the 26-year-old Uzbek Khumoyun Sultanov played solid tennis from the baseline to get past 32-year-old and former World No.17 Bernard Tomic of Australia, prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a match lasting 1 hour and 42 minutes. Khumoyun, who has won 9 ITF Futures, reached his second quarterfinals at the Challenger event.
“It feels very nice to play here and I like the conditions, I played solidly knowing that Tomic is a tricky player and very experienced, so I didn’t want to give him a chance”, said Khumoyun after his win.
Doubles finallist of the last week in Delhi, Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Courtney John Lock of Zimbabwe upset the fourth-seeded Australian pair of Blake Ellis and Tristan Schoolkate 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 10-8 in an exciting quarterfinals match.
In the semifinals, the winning pair of Poonacha and Lock will take the all-Indian pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth, who survived a match point to edge out Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 3-6, 12-10 in a thrilling encounter to ensure Indian interest in the finals.
–IANS
bsk/ab
